I Keep Trying But You Don't Understand
by FaithIsAccidental
Summary: Juvia tries to win over Gray's affection but he seems oblivious. Will he come to notice her attempts?
1. Chapter 1

Juvia walked into the guild. Her eyes skimmed across the room. Hardly any one was in. Not surprising since she was always one of the first ones in on a morning. Mira greeted her with a smile and an offer of a drink which she politely turned down before sitting at a table near the back of the guild hall to wait for the others arriving and for Fairy Tail to become it's usual self, filled with chatter and free-for-all brawls that were usually started by Natsu and Gray. The hours passed by as more and more of her guild mates entered through the large double doors, group after group. It came of no surprise to her when she saw Gray enter with Lucy, Erza and Natsu, but her head still shot up when she heard his voice. She waved at him, trying to get his attention. Her heart sank slightly when he walked to the opposite side of the room without even acknowledging her existance but over time, she had started growing used to that kind of thing happening. Juvia walked over to the table were the group was now sat, hoping to get to talk to her love interest.

"Gray-sama?", she spoke quietly although she was trying to get his attention. It was no wonder he didn't hear her at first. She repeated herself, louder this time, causing Gray to turn around to look at her in order to see what she wanted.

"What?" He sounded inpatient, like he didn't really wanted to talk to her but was trying to be too polite to tell her to get lost.

"Juvia was wondering if we could do a quest together", she spoke with a slight smile on her lips.

"Sorry, going with Natsu already". Her smile faded as he said it. She nodded her head as she walked away, disappointed that she wasn't able to go somewhere alone with Gray. She told herself that she shouldn't be surprised, he hardly ever went with just her, if he ever did, he always brought Natsu or Lucy or the whole of Team Natsu which made it hard for her to get some time to talk to her. Juvia sat back down where she had been when she first came into the guild and watched Team Natsu leave the guild, smiles all around as they headed out on the quest they had taken moments before.

The quest took a week for the team to complete, not because it was difficult, but because there was so much travelling involved. Each day, Juvia sat in the guild, waiting for Gray's return to it. To her, it didn't seem the same without his presence near her. As soon as Gray walked in through the large double doors, Juvia darted towards him, arms outstretched as she ran. When she was right next to him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and placed her head against his chest. Gray exclaimed in surprise, although he should have been used to her doing this by now, as he tried to push her off. Juvia let go of him with dismay, realising that he didn't want her to do what she was doing.

"Gra..." she was cut off by Gray.

"Sorry, I have to go talk to Natsu about something". She'd tried to talk to him, to try and get closer to him, but he just shut her out, like he always had done and probably always would do, Juvia figured. She knew that he wasn't one to openly talk about his emotions or feelings, but just once she'd like for him to do or say something to acknowledge her like she wanted him to. It didn't have to be some kind of wedding proposal, although she often fantasised about such things, just a simple display would do for her but he never did no such thing. He never displayed his emotions, but she couldn't help but feel like it was some how her fault. That she might be too clingy for his liking, that she might not be pretty enough for him to like her. She knew that that wasn't the main reason, if it was a reason at all, but a small part of her kept telling her that that was the main reason why he would never say what she wanted him to. She wondered if changing her appearance might help. The most affection he had ever shown was when he caught her on that roof top. Should she go back to how she was before, Secluded and shut off from every one else? Would that help her to win Gray's affection like she wanted it to? She wondered if she should try it. Maybe it would work. Then again, it might not. Juvia walked out of the guild and headed to Fairy Hills. It was late, and she needed to think. She decided to sleep on it before making any decisions.


	2. Chapter 2

Juvia walked into the guild late the next morning, at nearly 11:00am. Everyone turned to look at her when the doors opened. She seemed different. Even the air around her had a different feel. It felt... livelier than usual. She skipped across the room, straight over where Gray was. Gray felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Juvia stood there, smiling sweetly at him.

"Gray-sama, Juvia was wondering if...", she paused, gathering up her confidence to ask what she wanted to. "Juvia was wondering we could go to dinner, just us". She was relieved to have gotten that off her chest. He thought for a moment, figuring out what to say. Everyone looked at him, wondering what he was going to say. A few people thought that he may actually say yes, but most of the guild were fairly sure he would turn her down, like he always did.

"Juvia, I..." he hesitated as he cotinued to think about the best way to put this. He couldn't just tell her he didn't want to go. It might seem more hurtful than he wanted it to. He decided to make up an excuse, but what could he say? "I can't, I have to do a job".

"But, Gray-sama just got back from a job yesterday".

"Yeah, but I spent all the money and I need some more for my rent".

"Then, can Juvia come?"

"I'm going with Natsu, I don't think that this job is right for you"

"Juvia understands". The smile instantly faded from her lips and the mood around her dropped too. She skulked over to the request board before taking a job from it and walking out of the guild. Two days later, Juvia came back from the job and walked straight into the guild before taking a look around for Gray. She found him sitting at a table with Natsu and Lucy and began walking over to him. Half way across the guild, she stopped and started wondering. Why should she bother? He'd already turned her down twice in as many days, why should this time be any different. It was obvious that she hadn't changed drastically enough to get him to show any signs of affection towards her. She needed something more noticable, something that Gray would find more likable. Gray turned around, feeling a set of eyes focused on him. He saw Juvia stood in the middle guild, staring blankly at him. He was used to her stalking him, but this was different. This time, she seemed different, usually she would look away from him or talk to herslef about how fast her heart was beating, or something like that. He was contemplating whether or not he should go and talk to her. She spun on her heels and walked straight out of the guild. Juvia walked straight to Fairy Hills, she didn't want to talk to anyone, she was too focused on her thoughts. She wanted Gray's affection. She craved for it, and for that, she needed to change back to how she was before. There was no doubt in her mind about that now. She thought of herself as a fool for trying to change like this. It did nothing to get him to say what she wanted to hear, it was just another waste of both his and her time. She sat on her bed, totally lost in her fantasies of how when she started acting like she did before, Gray would suddenly come clean about how he really felt and they would have some kind of perfect life with each other. She became so lost in her thoughts, she didn't even notice the transition of thoughts to dreams as her eyes closed and she fell asleep, focused solely on how Gray would react when he saw her the next day.


	3. Chapter 3

The guild doors opened at around midday, revealing a completely different Juvia that the guild had almost forgotten existed. She was wearing a long, navy blue coat with a teru-teru bozu doll on her chest, brown boots and a dark blu cossack hat. Her hair was straight apart from the tight curls at her shoulders. Her face seemed almost void of any emotion, like she'd shut her feelings off from the world, until her eyes locked onto to someone. Her lips immediately curled into a small smile that she tried to hide. Step by step, she made her way over to Gray. For once, he was alone. This was probably the best opportunity to talk to him that she'd had in a while so she couldn't afford to waste it. Before she knew it, she was standing behind Gray. She forced the smile off her face, figuring he'd like her more if she wasn't so lively or cheery like she usually was. It took a few moments for her to get a neutral look on her face and to collect her thoughts before she cleared her throat, catching his attention as she did so. He turned on his stool to face her before looking up slightly to make eye contact. This time, Juvia didn't turn away or react with so much unnecessary enthusiasm like she usually did, but she still couldn't stop a faint rosy pink tint her cheeks as heat rushed to them under his gaze.

"Gray-sama", even her voice was different to what it normally was, what Gray had grown so used to hearing as she constantly followed him and tried to get his attention. Despite the fact that she was keeping the -sama honorific at the end of his name, he couldn't help but notice that her voice was ever so slightly deeper and seemed slightly more downcast than what she normally did. "Juvia was hoping that we could do something together tonight". Juvia visibly relaxed after she had said what she wanted to. Gray stayed silent for a moment, thinking about how much she had changed from when he saw her a couple of days ago. She almost seemed like an entirely different person. He mentally shook the thoughts out of his head, before answering her.

"Sorry Juvia. I already have some plans for tonight."

Juvia's famously wild imagination suddenly sprang into action. Was he spending time with someone else? Was he just like everyone else, just stringing her along for his own means? Did Juvia really have a love rival that was also competing for Gray? Gray noticed her eyes widen as she stood there in front of him, almost motionless. She snapped back to the reality of Gray asking if she was alright and waving a hand in front of her eyes.

"Juvia thinks she understands", he could hear the hurt in her words as she responded to yet another one of his rejections to yet another one of her proposals for the two of them to spend some time together. She spun on her heels and walked out the guild door, desperately trying to keep inside tears that threatened to spill over her eyelids. She had always managed to keep her emotions hidden at Phantom Lord, but when she was at that guild, nothing hurt her like a rejection from Gray.

Once Juvia was out of the guild, Mira approached Gray, offering him another drink. He acceprted with a small smile and Mira immediately got to the questions that he knew were coming, she always had something to ask after events like that.

"Again Gray? When are you going to tell her?"

"When I get round to it", he seemed calm and reserved, just like he usually did, despite Mira asking something that he considered to be quite a private topic, but he figured he could talk to her. She was probably one of the nicest people in the guild after all, and could usually give some good advice about almost any problem that anyone had.

"I know that you think you're doing the right thing, trying to protect or whatever crap you've started telling yourself now, but have you ever thought of how all of this makes Juvia feel?"

If he was being completely honest with himself, he hadn't given any thought to her feelings in any of this. It was only now that he had started thinking about her feelings for a change and not what it was that he wanted for her.

"Women, even those as loyal as Juvia, don't wait around for ever you know. Sooner or later she'll realise she has to move on."

He started thinking about it in slightly more detail as Mira walked away from the now finished discussion. He just couldn't imagine it though. There was no way that Juvia would just give up her interest in him, it was like her own long-running personal quest that she had some kind of obligation to fulfill. He shrugged, taking a drink out of the cup he'd recently been given. He figured that it was impossible she'd ever stop stalking him or asking him for some one-on-one time, but now that Mira had mentioned it, the thought of it ran across his mind again and again. He shook his head, clearing the thoughts from his mind as he downed the rest of his drink and headed over to go and talk to Natsu and the others about random stuff that they deemed interesting, though everyone else in the guild figured they were tedious for wasting time talking about such trivial matters.

The day was running out as Gray started to head out to his home. It was chaotic as usual, clothes that he'd subconciously taken off littered the floor and he hadn't been bothered to pick them up. Even his bed was unmade, but he didn't care. He jumped onto the mattress, having already removed most of his clothes as soon as he walked into the door.

Juvia had just finished brushing her teeth and now started neatly pulling her duvet back before climbing under it and pulling it up to her chin. She lay there, looking at the ceiling of her apartment as she lay still as her mind wandered focused on insignificant things .

Almost like they shared a connection with one another, Gray and Juvia sighed concurrently before turning onto their sides and letting the warm embrace of sleep slide over them.


	4. Chapter 4

Juvia walked into the guild relatively late the next morning, smiling widely. She was obviously happy about something. It was odd though. Gray had turned her down just yesterday, she had never bounced back as fast as this before. Perhaps she was just getting used to the rejetcions? But if that were true, then why would she keep up her pursuit of trying to win over Gray's affections? She walked over to the bar and sat next to Gray. He expected her to ask him to some activity that they could do together, just the two of them. It surprised him when no such request came. All she did was order a drink from Mira.

"You seem quite happy today, Juvia". Mira spoke with her usual smile and friendly tone. The word quite was an understatement. Juvia was only just short of ecstatic. She nodded.

"Yes, Juvia has plans tonight that she is looking forward to". At first, Mira thought that Gray had finally decided to act after the advice she had given him, but when she saw the slightly confused look on his face, she knew that wasn't the case. He seemed to be just as clueless as what she was when it came to this topic.

"Anything good?" The tone of Mira's voice was now full of curiosity, but so was Gray's mind. He wanted to know just as much as Mira but he wasn't someone who would just go right ahead and ask things like that as casually as the guild's barmaid would. Although he seemed uninterested, he made sure that he could hear as much of their conversation as possible.

"Juvia is going to dinner with someone tonight". Her smile widened as she finished speaking. Now Juvia had really caught Gray's interest. Was she going to dinner with a friend, or something more? He figured that it would have to be a friend. She had been asking him to do the same thing with her just yesterday after all. Mira's advice came back to his mind.

'Women, even those as loyal as Juvia, don't wait around for ever you know. Sooner or later she'll realise she has to move on.' But she couldn't have moved on in just one night. This was Juvia after all, the girl who had been stalking him for nearly a year now, even through all the times he had made excuses not to do something with her. Why should one rejection cause her to move on when countless others had only inspired her to try harder to win over Gray?

Mira's eyes widened with even more curiosity as she told her her plans for the evening. She was going to ask who she was going with, but decided that she had asked enough questions on the subject for the day. Gray sat there in silence, occassionally taking a sip out of the cup that sat on the bar in front of him. The curiosity was eating away at his insides. He was almost sure that there was no way she could have moved on from him so quickly, if at all, but there was still a small part of him that wanted to know who she was going with. It made him feel like he almost had to know. He sat there, o lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Juvia stand up and leave to go and get ready for her dinner with the mystery person that no one knew anything about.

Juvia walked into the guild the next morning. Everyone turned to face her. They had all heard of the dinner that she went to the night before. She seemed nervous under all the prying eyes of people wondering who she went with and how it all went.

"So who did you go with?" The notoriously curious and inquisitive Mira broke the silence with the question that was on everyone's minds. Before she opened her mouth to answer the question that had been addressed to her, the person in question stepped into the guild. Everyone's eyes widened in surprise, but it was definitely Gray who was most surprised. He didn't even have to look at the face to tell who it was, the hair gave it away. There was only one person that they knew that had white hair. Lyon.


	5. Chapter 5

Lyon stood there. The whole guild stayed silent as they processed what was in front of them. It only took a few seconds before the guild returned to it's usual loud and busy self. Lyon took his leave from the guild, saying that he had jobs to take care of back at Lamia Scale, to which Juvia nodded and smiled politely as she walked further into the guild. She casually walked over to the bar like nothing special had happened, and it hadn't. After all, she had only gone to dinner with someone that she knew and was aquanted with. She ordered a drink. Before the drink arrived, Juvia was swarmed by people of Fairy Tail, mainly the girls, asking how the night went and if she had any interest in making any new plans with Lyon. Juvia only said that the date went fine and dodged all other questions, much to everyone's annoyance. The drink finally came and Juvia drank it quickly before pushing past the crowd around her to get to the request board and take a job which she set off for almost immediately, mainly to get away from all the questions that the guild was firing at her. Gray sat there. Why hadn't she come over and talked to him like she usually did? He guessed he should have been glad in a way. After all, it did annoy him sometimes, she just seemed to be a bit too clingy at times.

A few days passed before Juvia came back from her job. She figured that the guild had either forgotten about or just lost interest in her dinner with Lyon thrrough the lack oof questions, in fact, she wasn't asked a single question regarding that topic. She sat alone on one of the many tables that the guild hall had to offer. She sat there pondering about something. It brought a slight smile to her face as she thought about it. Her smile widened as she decided she would do it. Without telling any one in the guild where she was going, which wasn't too strange for Juvia, she walked out of the guild and headed out of town.

Juvia headed south from Magnolia, towards the port town of Hargeon. It wasn't really the town that she was interested in but rather the guild that was based there. It only took a few days for her to get there, but not once did she ever forget about why she was heading there. Once she got to the town, she headed straight to the large building marked with a green woman that loosely resembled a mermaid. There it stood in front of her. Lamia Scale. She knew that inside, he would be there. She did have a good time last time she went with him so she couldn't think of any reason not to do it again. It didn't take long for her to find him. His distinctive white hair gave him away almost instantly, not that he was hiding from her. Far from it. As soon as he saw her standing by the door, he dropped what he was doing and made his way towards her. He smiled politely when he got to where she was standing.

"What's up?" He spoke in a freindly and casual manner, appropriate since the two of them had become more comfortable around each other.

"Juvia was wondering if Lyon-sama would like to go to dinner again sometime?" His eyes opened wider at the honorific. -sama... that honorific was one that she seemed to reserve only for Gray and yet here she was addressing him with the same honorific. Truthfully, he was a bit flattered, butdidn't show it. It wasn't really his style.

"Sure, when did you have in mind?"

"Juvia was hoping we could go tonight". She hardly hesitated before she spoke, yet there was so much enthusiasm and hope in her voice. Hope that he would agree and didn't think that she was being too forward.

"Yeah, ok. What about 8 o'clock tonight?"

"Juvia thinks that's perfect!" Her face lit up in delight at his acceptance of her request. She looked up at the clock that hung on the wall of the guild. 6 o'clock. Juvia had 2 hours to kill. It was only a small town so she decided to spend her free time doing what any tourist in a town would do. Sight seeing. Not that there was anything interesting in this small town but it gave her something to do. She greatly over estimated how many things there would be to see in the town. She could only find one real thing that was worthy of her to sightsee, and that was the park. But even that was only small, just a fountain and a few benches. It didn't take long for her to explore the park. She found herself bored seconds after she came out of the park. It was such a small town and there was nothing to do to pass the time. All she could do was sit on a bench and watch a clock as it counted down to that time. It seemed to take forever.

She almost leapt for joy as the clock struck 8. Juvia raced through the streets to the restraunt. Perhaps she was too enthusiastic for her own good, but that didn't stop her. She only slowed down when she was nearing the restraunt so that she didn't look too desperate or needy. When she got there, she found Lyon waiting for her. He hadn't even sat down, just stood there behind a chair that was pulled out.

It was dark by the time the two had finished their meal. The constant conversation made their eating relatively slow, but it also made the evening quite pleasurable for the both of them. The sky was full of clouds. Clouds that toldJuvia that rain was coming. She didn't care much about the rain. Not now that she knew that her sadness wasn't the cause. Lyon looked up at the clouds.

"Looks like rain". His voice seemed quite monotonous. He obviously wasn't too big of a fan of the rain. "Why don't you stay at mine tonight? I have a spare room that I could make up for you". Juvia thought about declining. They had only been on two dates. If you could call them dates. Before Juvia could speak, she found herself following Lyon to his house, not by force. Her own two legs were carrying her, not him.

Lyon's house was dark. That was until he put on the lights. The rooms were illuminated almost instantly. To Juvia's surprise, the house wasn't too untidy. She felt rude for thinking that his house would be a mess but she couldn't help it. He just seemed like the kind of person that didn't really care about how clean his house was.

"In here". He gestured towards a room that seemed empty. It only had a window, a bed and a chest of drawers.

"Night Juvia". He still maintained his calm and friendly voice.

"Night Lyon" Juvia responded as he flicked off the light to the room that she would be staying in for the night.

The next day, after she had left Lyon's house and said goodbye and thanked him for the room, she took a train back to Magnolia. It didn't take any where near as long getting back as it did walking there. In a matter of hours, she was back in Magnolia and was heading towards Fairy Tail.

As soon as she walked in through the doors, Lucy fired a question at her.

"Where've you been?" She was extremely direct but Juvia didn't seem to mind.

"Just dinner with Lyon". She smiled as she said it.


	6. Chapter 6

Near enough the whole guild crowded around Juvia asking her questions about how the dinner went and if they were dating now or not. She seemed a lot less secluded than the last time she had been asked such questions and answered a lot more of them as they were thrown at her left, right and centre. Whilst everyone fired off questions at Juvia, Gray just sat there on a stool by the bar. It didn't feel right to him for her to have stopped chasing after him and to be spending so much time with Lyon now. Maybe it was because of the long running rivalry between Lyon and Gray? He wanted to make himself believe that was the reason why it felt weird to him, but that was only because he didn't want to admit the alternative. Somewhere deep down, Gray knew that he was becoming jealous. Why was he becoming jealous though? It wasn't like he and Juvia had anything romantic going on between them, though Juvia had wanted there to be to before she started going with Lyon.

As Gray sat there, he noticed something odd. Juvia had been in the guild for almost two hours and not once had she even looked over at Gray. Before Lyon came into the mix, she would have either been clinging to his arm or stalking him. Either way, although he found it annoying at the time, he was kind of missing it. He was missing her attention being focused on him. Gray just sat there, lost in his thoughts. He didn't even notice Juvia start walking over to him, not until she was standing right in front of him and he was looking down at her boots. He lifted his head up to look at her face.

"Morning Gray-san". Juvia spoke with her usual smile, but Gray's eyes widened in shock as he picked up on the honorific she had given him. -san? It was so obvious to him now. Lyon had indeed replaced him. Lyon had taken the place in Juvia's heart that had once belonged to him.

Noticing his eyes, she asked Gray another question.

"Are you okay Gray-san?" Gray only nodded in response before returning the question. Juvia responded in the same way Gray had done. There was a long and awkward silence between the two as they stared blankly at eachother's faces. After what seemed like a small eternity, Juvia walked away from Gray, returning to the group she had left when she went to go and talk to him. He thought of himself as such an idiot. He had the perfect opportunity to talk to her, perhaps to tell her what's been on his mind, but he threw it away. He messed up. Big time.

Gray sat there in the same spot almost all day, ordering drink after drink. There wasn't much alcohol in the drinks, but he found they were good enough to help him relax, to help take his mind off how he was feeling. To take his mind off Lyon. A couple of drinks later, Gray made his way to his house, ready for his bed.

Gray woke up late. It wasn't unusual for him. He was always one of the last people to arrive at the guild. When he got there, teh guild was already bustling with life and several conversations could be heard, getting increasingly louder, like they were competeing with eachother. He went straight over to the table Natsu was sat at. Although the two of them always brawled, they were also quite close friends. The two didn't even try to engage in conversation as Gray sat opposite Natsu. Then something happened, something that rarely happened. Fairy Tail went quiet. He looked around in curiosity, wondering what had happened. Then he found out why everyone had dropped their conversations. By the doorway stood a couple of people. One with blue hair, and one with white. Lyon bent down on one knee and kissed the back of Juvia's hand. He couldn't tell if the white-haired mage was being sincere, acting like he normally would, or if he was just putting on this act in an attempt to get Juvia to like him more. In either circumstance, it seemed to be working. A large blush stained her cheeks pink as she stood there, one hand against Lyon's lips, and the other covering one of her cheeks.

Gray couldn't take watching it. He forced himself to look away from the 'cute' couple. It was then that he knew. Deep down, he had feelings for Juvia. Deep down he wanted her to treat him in the same way she had been doing with Lyon. He knew he had to do something.


	7. Chapter 7

Gray sat there on a stool, his mind was completely focused on coming up with a plan, any plan, to split up Lyon and Juvia, to get her attention back on him. He actually missed all the attention she used to give him. She had even started calling him 'Gray-san'. He felt like she had less respect for him now that she was dating Lyon. He was full of jealousy towards Lyon, why should he get Juvia? He knew almost nothing about her and only fell for her because of her looks. He didn't deserve her.

Nearly everyday, Lyon would walk Juvia to the guild. It was like pouring salt into the open wound. As if it wasn't enough he knew about them dating, he had to see the two of them together and each time he did so, it just gave Gray more inscentive to split the two of them up. It was becoming more and more unbearable to have lost Juvia to Lyon. Perhaps lost wasn't the right word, after all, he and Juvia had never actually been dating. Gray was near enough isolated from the rest of the guild, he had even stopped doing jobs just so that he could have more time to ponder about the best way to win Juvia back.

Nearly a week had passed since Gray had first decided to split Lyon and Juvia up and he had only come up with one idea. One idea that he didn't really like. It was completely out of character for him. Now came the harder part, putting the plan into action. He started step one of his newly formed plan: Get Juvia Lockser alone. That way, he could talk to her. He wouldn't have to worry about the rest of the guild listening in, it would be hard enough to do this as it is. There was no use putting it off. He figured the longer he waited the harder it would be. Confidently, Gray walked over to Juvia. She was sat alone by the bar but it wasn't good enough. Mira had a well-earned reputation for listening in to people's conversations, especially the ones that were supposed to be private.

"Juvia, can I talk to you?" He spoke in his usual tone. Juvia would never have guessed that what he wanted to talk about was completely out of the ordinary for him. His eyes widened when he heard her response. He wasn't expecting her to decline. She just got up and walked over towards the request board before heading out on a job. A minute ago she had just been sat there, she didn't even look like she was contemplating a job. Gray felt like she had taken it just to avoid him. It seemed kind of ridiculous though, so he just shrugged it off as a mere coincidence, a matter of bad timing. He'd just try again at a later date.

It took a couple of days for Juvia to get back from the job. For the first time ever, Gray and Juvia's roles were reversed. He was the one who rushed over to her as soon as she walked in through the doors.

"Juvia..." Gray was cut off almost immediately by Juvia's request to be alone. He just accepted it and walked away, but that's not how he felt inside. Inside he was slightly hurt. This was a first for Gray. For once, he got a taste of how he'd been making Juvia feel by rejecting her all the time. If it was enough to get to him, he could only imagine hpw bad it must have been for her. She was bordering infatuated with him. Now he had no problems realising why she would want to abandon her hopes of winning over his affection. He'd practically been making her feel worthless. The only guy that had shown her sunny skies had just been shooting her down again and again. He decided to wait until later in the day, the job had probably left her exhausted and in no mood to talk. She probably just wanted to rest for a bit, and he could totally understand, it was his main priority after a job too. Gray just took a seat near the bar and waited. He was disappointed when Juvia didn't return to the guild that night. It got really late and Gray just ended up sleeping on a table in the guild. It wasn't the first time he had done it, although one time he had got splinters from tossing and turning.

Gray awoke the next morning to the guild doors slamming. It was Mira's idea of some kind of alarm clock. She would do it every time she caught him sleeping in the guild. He yawned and stretched before looking at the clock. 8:00. He glared at Mira, obviously annoyed that she had woken him up so early.

"You're gonna have to be up to talk to her. She gets here soon". Gray's facce turned to a puzzled expression. He was just about to ask Mira what the hell she was talking about when it hit him. He needed to talk to Juvia. He had almost completely forgotten about step one of his little plan.

The clock turned to 9:00 and Juvia walked into the guild. it was fairly empty but he still didn't want to take the chance of people of listening in to what he had to say. This time he didn't take the risk of rejection. He didn't ask for her time. Gray just grabbed Juvia by the wrist and lead her outside around the back of the guild, with a bit more force than was necessary, but he didn't notice. He was solely focused on what he had to say.

"Why?" His sudden question startled Juvia. It was completely out of context.

"Why what?" She answered with her usual smile and innocent tone.

"Why Lyon? Are you trying to make me jealous? Coz it's working". There was a short silence as Juvia and Gray both processed what he had just said. Neither of them could believe that Gray had just admitted that he was jealous of someone dating Juvia other than him.

"Gray-san is just being silly. He is like Juvia was. Gray-san just thinks that he's jealous of Lyon-sama but he just doesn't realise his true feelings"

"Which are?"

"How should Juvia know". The conversation ended as quickly as it had begun as Juvia walked back into the guild without any sort of goodbye.


	8. Chapter 8

Gray just stood there. He couldn't believe it. If he had done exactly the same thing a few weeks ago, Juvia would have leapt into his arms right there, but now that she was dating Lyon, she was like a completely different person. Gray didn't like it. She was completely uninterested in him now. He could only do one thing. He could only try harder. He didn't want to lose Juvia, especially not to Lyon. Maybe that was why Gray was suddenly more interested in her. Maybe it was just another competition with Lyon. Gray thought about it for a moment and then dismissed it. No. He was pretty sure that even without the white haired mage, he would still like Juvia. In secret, he had always felt something for Juvia but he never told anyone, and if it weren't for losing her to someone else, he probably never would have.

The guild doors swung open and Juvia walked in. She was almost breathless, still trying to come to terms of what she'd just done. For the first time ever, she had rejcted Gray. Her feelings were split. Part of her was so pleased that she had finally done it, she could move on, she was tired of getting rejected all the time and she felt like she had to find someone else. The other part of her was scolding herself. She had rejected the man that brought her sunny skies, the man she fell in love with on first sight. A question rushed into her head. What if it makes thing awkward between the two guild mates? What if the two of them became cold to one another? That was the last thing that Juvia wanted. Before she could start overthinking things, Juvia plucked a piece of paper from the request board and set out on a job. That should keep her mind off what just happened. At least for a few days.

Gray was sat at the bar. It was just yesterday that Juvia had rejected him and he was already devising a new and improved way of getting her attention back on him. Admitting he was jealous wasn't enough. In hindsight, he realised he made him seem more petty than he had meant to. It made it seem like just another competition with his childhood rival. But this wasn't just some competition. He actually felt something for Juvia, maybe not as strong as what she seemed to feel for him but he definitely felt something. There was only one obstacle in his way. Him. Gray wasn't very adept at speaking about his feelings or emotions and tried as much as possible to avoid any topics that meant he would have to do so. Now was an exception. Now he had to talk about them. Gray finished the contents of the cup in front of him before snatching a sheet of paper from the request board and exiting the guild.

A few days later, Gray returned from the job. As he walked into the guild, his eyes immediately fixated on blue hair. For a while, he stood there, staring at the colour. She was sat there at the bar, alone. He found it a bit odd. She was hardly ever alone. Gray closed his eyes and counted. One. He walked forwards as the number resounded in his mind. Two. He kept walking. Three. He took a long breath in and opened his eyes as he breathed out. Juvia was looking up at him from her seat. Her face looked a bit confused. Had Gray really just walked over to her with his eyes closed? Her face looked even more puzzled when he placed a hand on her shoulder. Since the previous approach hadn't worked, Gray decided to be a bit less forceful. He leaned in closer to her.

"We need to talk". His voice seemed quite loud in her ear yet no one else in the guild seemed to have noticed it. She followed him outside for another talk.

The pair of them went straight to the back of the guild, away from prying eyes and ears. Gray took another long and deep breath before he spoke.

"I have..." There was a long pause as he collected his thoughts and picked the right words. "feelings for you". His voice was only just loud enough for Juvia to hear. There was a short silence between the two.

"No". She abruptly broke the silence and made Gray's gaze snap at her from the floor. "Gray-sama is like Juvia was. He only thinks he does. When Juvia met Lyon, she realised she never truly loved Gray-Sama. Gray-sama should find someone and then he would realise that he doesn't have feelings for Juvia". The bluenette walked away from the ice mage and went bac into the guild. Well, it wasn't a complete waste of time. He picked up on the fact that she had started calling him Gray-sama again. He figured it was a start. Gray walked back into Fairy Tail and headed straight for the bar. He sat down and ordered a drink. He had a slightly more depressing aura about him. An aura that Mira immediately picked up on.

"Still no luck on the Juvia front then?" He shook his head, not even bothering to lift his eyes from the cup that was now in front of him. "You know, there is an old proverb that might mbe useful to you in your current situation". Gray looked up at her, figuring he'd need all the help and advice he could get. "Actions speak louder than words". He looked at her. " Just something to think about" Mira added as she walked away. As Gray sat there, he found himself doing just that. He thought about what the former S-class mage had said and how he could apply it to his little...problem.


	9. Chapter 9

"Actions speak louder than words". Gray recited the words softly to himself as he tried to find use for them. What actions could he perform? He couldn't exactly go and assault Lyon, though the thought had crossed his mind once or twice. He needed something less aggressive, something that would appeal to Juvia and win her back. He couldn't be too subtle, but at the same time, he didn't want to over do it either. He considered his options and thought about things that would meet that criteria. He needed to be noticed, for her to know it was him and that he did care about her. A gift seemed the most appropriate. He walked out of the guild and started a search for something to give to Juvia, for something to show that he did have feelings for her and he wasn't just saying it.

Gray headed straight to the main shops of Magnolia. It seemed a good a lpace as any to start. Quite a few of the shops were full of magical items, something that Juvia would neither want nor need since she was already a well accomplished mage so Gray just walked past without giving them a second look. Flowers were too much of a cliché. He needed something original to express what he felt. Clothing didn't draw him in either. Juvia had changed her atyle numerous times and Gray hadn't really had chance to keep up. He was nearing the end of the main street of the town and was quickly running out of shops. The last shop caught his eye. A jewellery shop. He figured it couldn't hurt to take a look inside since it was the most promising shop he had come across so far.

The inside of the shop was surprisingly well illuminated, making the items inside sparkle in the light, but there was one that was shining brighter than the others. A silver necklace. The chain was simple, but it had something dangling off it. It was something that Gray knew that Juvia loved. A butterfly. On each of the four wings sat a small, round blue sapphire. He walked over to the item and looked at the cost. 700,000 jewels. It was as much as Lucy's rent and there was no way that he had that kind of money on him. There was only one way he was going to get the money for this. He needed to go on a job. Gray set off back to the guild.

As soon as he got into the guild, he headed straight for the request board and studied each and every scrap of paper on it. He needed the right figure to be on it, he didn't really care about the job itself. There was only one that came close to th figure he needed. 695,000 jewels. He'd probably have to take two jobs. Regardless, he snatched the paper off the board and headed out on the job.

A few days later, he came back. He nearly had all the money he needed for the necklace but wasn't quite there yet. He still needed 5,000 jewels. Another job is what he needed. He looked over the request board again. He figured it shouldn't be too hard to do a job that only offered a small reward, in fact, the hardest part about it seemed to be finding a job that had a low reward. Fairy Tail was such an accomplished guild that it mainly got the toughest jobs, leaving all the easy ones to other, weaker guilds. He found the lowest paying job on the board. 20,000 jewels. It was a little more that Gray needed but he figured that having some money left over wouldn't be such a bad thing. He headed out on the job as soon as he ripped it off the request board.

The job was relatively easy just like he thought it would be. It had been about a week and a half since he saw the necklace and he finally had enough to buy it. All the other thoughts were suddenly banished from his mind as he started running to the jewellery shop in the main part of town. The streets were quite busy, not surprising since it was about midday, but Gray just pushed his way through the crowd, shouting apologies over his shoulder as he did so.

Gray rushed into the shop and headed straight for the counter at the back of the shop. He quickly placed the 700,000 jewels on the desk in front of the owner and pointed at the necklace. The man in charge of the shop nodded and unlocked the case and placed the accessory in a box and handed it to Gray. As quickly as he had came into the shop, Gray ran out and headed back to the guild.

He barged in and took Juvia out and guided her around the back of the guild. Juvia opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Gray handing her a blue box with a small ribbon keeping it closed. Juvia eyed the box in Gray's hand with curiosity before she took it. Slowly, she undid the ribbon. As it was coming from Gray, he thought it might have been some practical joke that he was playing on her, but as she removed the lid, her eyes widened.

"Well?" Gray inquired.

"Gray-sama..." the bluenette seemed lost for words. "It's beautiful". It was the last few words that caught Gray's attention the most. "But Juvia can't accept it. Juvia is dating Lyon-sama and it wouldn't feel right to her". Gray sighed. So it had all been for nothing. He was baout to say something but then his mind went back. Actions speak louder than words. He finally found the best way to make use of the proverb. Gray closed his eyes and took a deep breath, earning him a strange look from the girl that stood in front of him. Inside his head, he counted to three before he leaned in towards Juvia. Her eyes widened again as she realised what was happening. Her heart sped up and her cheeks turned a rosy pink. It was just like when she had first saw him whist she was still in Phantom Lord. Gray leaned back and looked at Juvia. Her eyes seemed distant, like they did when she was day dreaming. He snapped his fingers near her ear bringing her back to reality.

"Gray-sama...". Gray rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry. I just felt it had to be done sooner or later". Juvia stood there looking at him. "I guess you should probably go, you are dating Lyon after all right?"

"Juvia is sure that Lyon-kun will understand if she says that things aren't working out between us". A smile came to the ice mage's face as he noticed the -kun at the end of Lyon's name rather than the -sama he had grown used to hearing at the end of his name. The two mages headed back into Fairy Tail, both with a small smile on their faces and a small blush on Juvia's cheeks. Juvia reached out and intertwined her fingers with Gray's earning a few looks from their guild mates, but they got even more looks as Gray returned the favour, giving her hand a small squeeze as they walked over to the bar together.


End file.
